Colorado - A Falling Skies Story
by Robswandering
Summary: Cal's recently retired Navy with his daughter Sam are returning home to Colorado. Caught in the alien attacks that wipe out of virtually 90% of the population he must Utilize his experience along with his daughter, an old retired radioman, and a businessman to unravel the mystery surrounding the attacks while fighting with everything they have to survive.
1. Ch 1: The Attack

_All of war is deception. You want to manipulate the enemy into thinking you are weaker or stronger than you actually are. You want to drive him into the weaker position, you want him to reveal his forces, his reserves, his supply lines and you want him to think he has the upper hand. Only then can you crush him. _

_Calvin Van Deeks_

I

The head lamps of the old Jeep Cherokee burned white against the black canvas of the night sky and the joining horizon of dirt and tumbleweeds. The only sound was the muted rumbling of the Jeeps engine and the crunching of the terrain as the vehicle bumped and tumbled its way a down a Kansas back road.

Calvin Van Deeks, the driver, rubbed his exhausted eyes and absently tapped the aluminum tab on the top of a half full can of Coca Cola. Probably one of the last he would ever drink, he mused. He flicked a worried glance to the rear and side view mirrors and then back to the horizon. Tense. Tense would only make him tired, but his body felt like a huge weight in the old battered leather seat and his bottom ached from the jostling and bouncing of the vehicle. He let out a deep breath and leaned his elbow against the driver's side door brushing his fingers across his forehead.

His sixteen year old daughter Sam twitched in her sleep on the passenger side. Long blonde hair falling around her face in tendrils obscuring the dirt and grime that stained her cheeks over the previous weeks of terror they both endured. In a way, it had brought them closer, yet the cost seemed more than they could bear alone and so they shouldered it together.

"Eight more hours." He whispered, more to himself than the sleeping teenager next to him.

"Are we there yet?" she said, pulling the hair away from her face and stretching her back like a cat. Her Dad scratched her side and she purred contentedly. That sound always made him smile.

"Thanks Dad." She smiled pulling herself up to a sitting position and rubbed her eyes.

"No, not yet." he said, in a less exhausted tone than he felt. "Nightmares?" he asked.

"Yeah, just worried about Mom and Jim." She stretched and pulled her hair back into a messy bun. "What do you think we'll find when we get to Colorado?"

"I don't know, baby." Cal replied letting out a breathe. "We'll just have to wait and see."

"They probably took out Fort Carson." She said so matter of fact.

"umm hrmm." He replied. He knew Sam was referring to the aliens. The ones that had come from the skies in their great mother ships bringing the eight legged crawlers and the tall metal bipedal Machines like something out of a Terminator movie. Bev, his wife, would say she got that from him. His uncanny ability to detach himself emotionally and look at things from a different perspective delineating cause and effect through his "Military filter" she called it.

Sam just sniffed, rubbed her nose and snuggled back into the folds of an old blanket on the passenger side and stared off out the window at the dark landscape beyond remembering the nightmare they'd managed to both survive over the previous weeks. She twirled a red ribbon in her fingertips she'd kept with her since Louisville. Where it all started and where the world changed when the ships came. When the bugs came and children were taken. Where people died.

_Two weeks before the attack… _

Sam poked her dad still sitting at the short corner booth table of Kidrows Fresh Food diner just outside the western city limits of Louisville, Kentucky. He nodded and smiled putting up his forefinger as if to say 'one minute'. He had coffee in one hand and a cell phone pressed to his ear with the other.

"Dad," She whispered. "Can I have a few quarters to get some stickers?" She motioned over at the vending machines lined up against the wall and Cal didn't fail to notice a group of young men dressed in black leather jackets, blue jeans and one with a red bandana wrapped around his head at a table close by.

Cal switched hands on his phone so he could pull the change from his pocket. "We're ok, hon. Sam's doing fine. We've just stopped outside of Louisville and we're still heading west. We'll be there in a couple days." He started to count out quarters when he just dismissed the notion and handed her the whole pile of change he'd dug out.

"Thanks dad," Sam said kissing his cheek and deftly picking the money from the palm of his hand.

Cal eyed the group of young men now staring blatantly at his daughter with rather open interest. When they realized they caught his attention, they put their heads together snickering and whispering to one another. One young man pushing another perhaps to dare him to go talk to Sam who pulled her selection from the vending machine and now appearing to examine it didn't fool her dad. Cal could see the machinations of her mind slowly working out calculations as to which boy would have the guts to talk to her first. Cal wondered which one she was interested in. He frowned and kept a careful watch, but let it go.

One young man got up and started to turn toward Sam, but when he realized he'd caught the eye of her father, his embarrassment got the better of him and he chickened out sitting back down to the wild guffawing of his friends.

"So," Bev, his wife, on the other end of the line said. "How's Sam liking the trip?"

"She's behaving herself. You know how teenagers are. I've got my eye on her."

"Don't let her get away with too much, Cal." Bev's chiding responses always had a way of putting him on the defensive.

"How much is too much, Bev? She's almost 17. I'll be kicking her out of the house before too long."

"You won't and you know it Cal." She laughed diffusing his ire. He was reminded how much he missed that laugh. "Just be careful. I want you both back in one piece." Her voice was thick with emotion. "You've been gone too long, Cal. Two and a half years. A long time."

"I know," He said picking at a chipped piece of porcelain on his half drained coffee cup. The tone of conversation had somehow dipped a little and he felt obligated to keep it up beat. "But we made it to a military retirement. Twenty years of Service. Finally heading home."

"To Me, I know it. I'm so excited." She said, her voice brightening. "To Us."

"It was nice of you to let her fly out and drive back with me, Bev." He let out an exhausted sigh.

She sighed with him. "I would have come too, but work here and Jim didn't want to leave because of that big scholarship project. It was just horrible timing."

"I know. It's ok. We'll be back soon." Cal ran his fingers through his hair as he noted the furtive looks Sam was giving the young men in the booth as she continued to peruse the vending machines. "Give Jim my love. Tell him to put all those tools away he took out of my tool boxes. I don't want to find my test equipment in various shades of disrepair."

"JIM! Dad says you better put all those tools back where you found em before he comes home!"

Cal pulled the phone from his ear and winced slightly.

"I will!" A voice from farther away from the receiver on Bev's end called back.

"That better?" Bev asked, giggling.

"Little Loud, but that'll do." Cal said laughing.

"Sorry." She said with a teasing tone.

"We're leaving shortly. I'll talk with you when we hit Kansas." He snorted. "Kansas. Reminds me of my first girlfriend."

She laughed. "Why did she remind you of Kansas?"

"She just reminded me of that little house on the prairie type. You know, with the bonnet and the ankle length dresses." He said with a wry grin. "Kind of a prude."

Bev's laughter was music to his ears. "Cal, be nice now, Kelly was nothing like that and you know it. She was a nice girl. Just saw her the other day at the grocery store."

"Really? He asked with a little smugness in his voice. "She didn't say she wanted me back did she?"

"Actually, She did." Bev laughed. "I told her I'd trade you for that Friesian of hers."

"Surely I'm worth more than a horse." He couldn't hold the mock surprise out of his tone for long before he laughed in spite of himself. Cal looked up to see the boy with a blue and white baseball cap and purple sweatshirt decide to finally get the courage up to talk to Sam. "Hon, I've got to go. Got a situation."

"What? Are you ok?"

"Boys." He said menacingly. "Talk with you later. FFY."

"Ohhhhhhh. Go get em Cow-"

The cell service connection was lost before he could hang up. He lifted the cell phone to see if it was a reception problem, but that also put Sam and her long blonde hair now talking with the boy with the leather jacket and red bandana simultaneously holding up her phone searching for a connection into his line of vision.

"Sam?" He nodded toward the other seat when he got her attention.

The typical exasperated teenage roll of the eyes rapidly alternating to embarrassment told him he'd caught her red handed. She stalked over to the table.

"Are you ever going to trust me around boys?" She asked dropping into the chair across from him.

"No." He said with a wry grin.

"Seriously Dad. Why not?" She asked her tone boarding on the defensive.

"Oh it's not about you. It's about them." He said with a sly smile. When she just glared and folded her arms, his grin got wider. "They're just not ready for a girl like you to rock their world. You'll hurt em."

"Ooooo… I'll hurt em bad!" She said in a low sing-song tone. "So bad."

"Stawp!" He whined mimicking Sam's all too often over-utilized claim to fame. Then she giggled when he put on a serious pout and pointed an uncharacteristically exaggerated admonishing finger. "Behave yourself young lady."

"Yeah, Yeah. Cool my hormones and all that. I gotcha dad."

"That's right young lady. You know who's boss."

Sam glared over her Cell phone at her father tapping away on his.

"Your mother." He said so matter of factly.

"That's right." Sam said giggling and scrunching up her nose concentrating on flipping through settings on her phone. Her tone got serious. "No cell service."

He pointed at his cellphone. "Cell phone towers blanked out. What do you make of that?" The waitress hurried over dropping two creamers and refilling his cup of coffee.

"No other cell signals either." She said. "Strange. I can't pick yours up."

Cal shrugged and sipped the coffee offering a thanks and smiling at the waitress before she turned and walked away. "Maybe a problem with the local service."

"Maybe, but it wouldn't knock out all signals, just the one from the local cell towers. " Sam replied still flipping through settings. "See? I can't even connect to your phone. It's like it's not there." She showed him her screen. "It's like my antenna went dead or something, or…"

"If another signal was interrupting the Cell signals that might account for it." Cal admitted checking his own Cell phone settings.

"It might, but what would be the source?" Sam replied pressing the restart command on the phone.

Cal just shook his head. "I don't know." He stared in awe at how this young girl was turning into such a talented, intelligent, and mature young woman. He almost couldn't see his little girl anymore.

"Dad." Sam waved her hand in front of the dazed look on her father's face. "Dad. Yoohoo! Da'ad."

"Yea," Cal came out of his daze. "Yea."

"You ok? You looked a little lost there." Sam giggled.

Cal recognized the little girl in that giggling laughter. "There's my little girl."

"You're weird dad." Sam replied, her attention back to her phone.

Cal's moment of nostalgia was interrupted as from another corner of the room an elderly man smacked a little black nokia phone against his own table.

"Darn things. Don't work half the time you need em. I don't like payin for things and then haven'em not work." He stuck his finger in his ear. "Damn hearin aid buzzin at me for the last twenty minutes."

"Oh Gerald." The soft cooing of his wife whose thinning golden curls betrayed her age seemed to agitate him all the more as he slammed the phone down on the table with a little more force. She placed her hand on his in an effort to calm him.

Cal watched the elderly man shake the device and glare at it with a venomous expression, but his attention was suddenly redirected when the waitress tapping her foot in her knee length jeans skirt and red and white plaid blouse with a missing top button and a name tag that read Joanne stopped at his table.

"Can I getcha anything else? Some Pie or Ice cream?" She said with a sweet smile.

Cal looked down at his empty plate and Sam's effort to push food around to make it look like she'd been interested in food. It dawned on him that perhaps he should ask her if she wasn't eating. "No, I think we're done."

"No problem, just pay when you're ready, sweetie. No hurry." She said with a long crisp Kentucky drawl flashing another smile as she ripped the check off her pad and laid it on the table. It was Sam's turn to give the waitress the eyeball as she walked away.

"What? You don't trust me around other girls when I'm not with your mom?" Cal asked picking up on Sams silent growl of disapproval.

"No." Sam's retorted condescendingly sending her dad into a soft roll of laughter. She loved that laugh and scooted out of the booth to head to the door.

Cal placed the money on top of the check and scooted out of the booth behind Sam. He followed her out the front door of the diner and into the night.

Sam put her hands in her pockets and waited for her dad step out the door behind her before she leaned into him, trying to get a little warmth from the chill night air. "Little cold for April, you think?"

"You don't like spring Kentucky weather?" He asked fishing in his pocket for the keys to their red GMC Accadia. He pushed the unlock button, but the SUV turn signals didn't blink in response to the command.

"It's the middle of April Dad, what do you think?"

"Well…" Cal waffled a bit.

"Nooo." Sam replied, punching her dads arm playfully and he feigned being mortally wounded. Sam just rolled her eyes before falling into step beside him. "I miss California."

"You were like twelve when we moved to California, how do you remember something like that at sixteen? That was ages ago."

She punched him playfully again. "Seriously, dad? Almost seventeen and I'm not that old. Like you." She stepped just out of his reach when he tried to grab her.

"Ohhhh really?." He said. "How old do you think I am?"

"Ummm, like fifty?" She said with a grin.

"Ohh you. You wanna see a fifty year old man can kick a sixteen year old girls butt." He tossed her over his shoulder and started to spin her around as he headed for the SUV.

"Dad, stop!" She cried out laughing. "Daddy! Put me down."

Cal stopped and put Sam on her feet before pulling the door handle on the drivers side door. It remained locked. "I thought I unlocked this thing."

"Did you press the button?" Sam asked with a slight smirk.

"Yes, I pressed the button, smarty pants." Cal pushed the unlock button again with no luck. "That's weird," He said manually unlocking the door. "Hrrmmmm."

Cal looked around the parking lot at all the cars and people. There were a few passing cars on the streets and the sky was filled with the pin prick twinkling of stars one moment and then globes of light much bigger and brighter than aircraft skimming across the night sky in a perfectly linear and parallel pattern heading south east. Cal watched them disappear staring in awe at the extraordinary show. A bright light filled the south eastern horizon bursting far into the sky and then a deep thrumming boom sounded and he could literally feel it through every nerve fiber in his body. The passing vehicles all slowed down, they're lights flickering and finally going dead along with their engines.

"What the hell was that?" Cal looked around at all the stopped vehicles and then back in the direction of the bright light.

"Meteors?" Sam said tossing out a random thought staring off in the same direction as her dad.

"I don't think so. That wasn't anything man made either." Cal replied. Most of the Horizon was beginning to darken with the exception of what appeared to be a large flare far to the south east.

"Whatever that was I don't think they were airplanes." She whispered.

"Me either, but given their speed I'd bet they were headed to the coast." Calvin said still transfixed by the hazy burning light on the distant horizon.

"What's on the coast?" Sam asked.

He was only half listening. It was like recalling a memorable scent from your past, or a feeling you'd felt before, but couldn't quite place, like a chill running up your spine making your hair stand on end. As if something ominous is stalking you from the darkness. He could feel it, but couldn't place it.

"Dad? What's on the coast?" Sam repeated.

"Norfolk." Cal replied coming back to his senses.

"Whats at Norfolk?" Sam asked curious to know what her father was referring to.

"Military Bases." Cal said brushing his hand over his nose as the first tickle of a scent blew past him with the easterly wind.

"Ewww. Whats that smell?" Sam said pinching her nose. The stench rapidly filled the air and was becoming stronger. "It's like Diesel fuel and barb-e-que and burnt plastic. Gross."

Cal's face paled with sudden realization. "It's an attack."

"An attack?" Sam asked, the fear evident in her voice when she saw the mortified look on her fathers face. "Why?"

"One of the first rules of mounting a surprise attack. Fast, violent, and overwhelming. Get in the truck baby, we gotta go." He held open the door and Sam jumped in the driver's side scrambling over the center console to the passenger's seat just as all the patrons including the young men came rushing out of the diner looking toward the south eastern horizon. Cal was about to jump in the SUV when he heard the sound of a car door opening and something plastic hitting the ground.

"What the hell is that?" Old Gerald squawked bending over to pick up the nokia phone he dropped while using the passenger side door of his silver Buick to balance him. His wife opened the driver door and slid into the seat fiddling the keys into the ignition.

"Electricity's out. What was that sound?" The kid with the leather jacket and the red bandana called out.

The street lamps and the Reddie's Hardware sign were out. Ten cars had stopped in the middle of the street and their passengers getting out looking around confused. Lights up and down the streets in every building were out and it was eerily quiet with the moon and stars the only two sources illuminating the parking lot.

"What is what, Gerald? My Gosh, you've gotten so ornery today. What is with you?" his wife crowed leaning over to pull him back into the car.

"Aww Come on, Joe you didn't hear nothin," The young man with the blue and white ballcap and purple sweatshirt who'd chickened out in talking with Sam seemed more confident joking with the guy in the red bandana and leather jacket. "What was that sound?" he mocked in a high tone of voice.

"Shhhh! Quiet all of you." Gerald exclaimed. "I know that sound. That's them. That's whoever that was made the lights and the booming. That's them."

"Whats 'them' Gerald. Oh for the love of-" She slapped the steering wheel. "You're not having another episode again." She reached over tugging his elbow to pull him back in the car.

"Tina, hon, Let go of me." Gerald struggled, "There! Didja hear that? That sound." By now Gerald's wife was listening, but her expression projected a shaky confidence in her husband's sanity. Gerald tapped his other hand to a beat only he could hear. "It's like they're trying to dial in a frequency, but they haven't got the tuning right."

Joe smacked the bill of his friends ballcap. "It was like this booming sound, only I could feel it in my body, you know?" He made a ball motion with his hands. "I don't know how, I just…" He looked down at the Cell phone in his hand and depressed the power button. "Hey, my phone ain't workin."

Cal checked his phone as well. The kid, Joe, was right. His cell phone was dead. He looked over at Sam and she shook her head confirming hers wasn't working either.

Joe walked toward the older man getting standing on the passenger side of the Buick. "Hey! Old man, what's that you saying you hear them?"

"Gerald," His wife pleaded seeing the young man approach her husband, "Get in the car. Let's go home. You can play with your radio when you get home."

Gerald just stood one leg on the asphalt, the other still stretched out on the floorboard of the car. His hand rested on the metal doorframe and then it was like a sudden realization lit up his face. He pulled his hand off the door frame and stared at it before placing it back on the doorframe again.

"It's my hearin aid. I can hear em. The car. It's like it's acting like an antenna. I can hear em right enough." Geralds voice carried back to Cal and in one moment it all clicked.

"Who?" Joe asked. "Who can you hear?"

"I can hear em jittering to each other, cept there's another who's speaking. Strong, low voice that one. Not English, but they're talkin. Back and forth, back and forth. Heard it forty years ago."

Cal paced over to Geralds Car and held out his hand, "Cal, Electronics Technician, US Navy, retired. Pleased to meet you Gerald."

Gerald just stared at Cal's hand momentarily interrupted out of his concentration before shaking it. "Gerald M. Dagut, Radioman Chief Petty Officer. Retired."

"You say you can hear them?" Cal asked staring up at the fully starlit night sky.

Joe stood next to Cal listening intently to the exchange. He didn't flinch when Sam came and stood next to her dad, but the proximity made him uncomfortable.

"I can." Gerald offered. "Just don't know what they're sayin. Suppose if I had the right equipment and could cipher the language."

"Gerald." His wife called from inside the car. "The car won't start Gerald." She turned the key again and there was silence.

Cal noticed it too. It happened just after the flash of light in the south east. No cars, no trucks, no traffic, no birds, no insects, just an eerie silence. "Gerald, I think we should go back in the diner."

Gerald licked his lips and alternated between the three faces in front of him. Cal, Joe, then Sam. "I think yer right. We're gonna need to get someplace safe."

"Mrs. Dagut, I'll help you back into the diner and maybe they have a phone and you can call someone. Maybe a family member."

"Thank you, we have a daughter in Norfolk. Her husband's in the Navy, you know." she said as Gerald stepped out of the car and walked around to open her door. "but I just want to go home, Gerald, can we please go home?"

Gerald smiled and winked at Cal. "Juss a minute Tina, we better call Lizzy. Less go back inside and see if they got a phone."

"Well, alright." Her voice shook with uncertainty as she stepped out of the car and made her way back to the diner.

Cal followed them in with Sam, Joe and Buck trailing behind. The diner was filled with the light of flickering candles on the table as one of the waitresses went around and lit them. The room was crowding with people at tables as they filed in from the parking lot, some leaving their vehicles in the road and others who had been passing by. In all, Cal took a tally and counted almost fifty people all huddling in groups at different tables in the flickering muted candlelight.

"You gotta land line?" Cal asked the other waitress standing at the counter.

Her name tag read, 'Hallie'. She was plump, brown hair, hazel eyed with a round face. She smiled at him from behind the counter and shifted nervously rummaging through a drawer. "Got a phone in the back, but it's for the manager. Don don't let no one in the back. He's kinda picky bout that sort of thane, you know."

"I understand," Calvin plastered a smile on his face he didn't feel, "Our cell phones aren't working and..." he pointed at Gerald and his wife, "…their car isn't working and they need to call someone to come get them."

"Oh Let them use the phone Hallie, they're not criminals." The blonde haired waitress who served him earlier called from across the room. She was lighting candles and placing them on tables as she went about the room. "Hi," She waved, "I'm Joanne. We met earlier." She said before she passed into the kitchen behind two wooden double doors.

Cal waved back and Sam eyeballed him from the corner of her eye.

"What?" Cal said defensively, "Just being polite." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sam just shake her head and he nudged her raising his eyebrows at Hallie expectantly who was fiddling with a flashlight.

"Oh, Well alright," She flashed that winning smile. "I suppose since it's an emergency and all. It's right back there." She pointed toward the hallway partially obscuring a door marked private and Cal rushed in finding the dial phone on the desk.

"Ummm," He came back out and stopped at the door looking at Hallie. "Phones dead."

"Really?" The waitress's incredulous look belied her distrustful tone. "I juss used that old phone bout an hour'go and t'was workin just fine."

"It's dead." Cal said sitting down next to Sam across from Gerald and Tina at a table in the middle of the room. Joe pulled another chair with Buck close behind and placed it next to Sam. Cal just raised his eyebrows and Joe shifted uncomfortably.

Joe glanced at Gerald and Cal being careful not to make eye contact with Sam, "I'm Joe and this is my boy, Buck." He said pointing at his friend with the blue and white ball cap.

Gerald nodded at the two and turned back to Cal. "First thing, take out Communications." Gerald said knowing Calvin would understand.

"Then military assets." Cal chimed in. "I'll stake my life on there not being a living thing within three hundred and fifty miles of those military bases. We might just be out of the radius of the threat zone."

"Unfortunately," Gerald put in, "I think your right. I don't think it was anything human that attacked us."

Cal noted the sad look on the older man's face. "I'm sorry Gerald. Your daughter."

"It…" Gerald said patting Cal's arm and his other hand on his wife's, "It will be ok. If it is an attack like I'm thinking, many more are going to be dead long before this is finished. There'll be time nuff for mournin the dead when wer safe."

"That's true," Cal said. "This is all theory, but what do you suppose could destroy a whole network of electrical and Radio Frequency systems and not leave a trace?"

"The U.S. done some work with electro-magnetic-pulse bombs, EMP, range in the kilo-tons." Gerald's estimable intelligence was well above average as Cal could see him organizing more than sixty years of accumulated knowledge and experience. "Unfortunately, the smell tells me this is more'n just an EMP bomb. By some calculation could be a nuclear reaction, but no one would nuke a planet knowing making the resources unusable." Gerald paused

"Not a Nuke." Cal agreed.

Gerald acknowledged the agreement. "Not a Nuke. Nothing I've ever heard would make the sort of light or sound either. Would have to be some form of… Energy Weapon."

"Sort of like a tiny sun exploding." Sam put in. "Heat and light capable of destroying large areas bursting with an electromagnetic pulse strong enough to overload anything that has an electrical signal."

Gerald put up a finger, "Yes, but to create heat, light, and a pulse. We're getting into the realm of Science Fiction. Orson Scott Card, War o' the worlds. Energy weapons."

"Not unless we were being attacked by Aliens." Cal replied.

"As I said," Gerald sat back arms folded. "

"Aliens! Oh man. Gonna be like taking down Predator, you know? We gonna kick some alien butt." Buck's interjection had everyone staring at him. Joe nudged him and he closed his mouth.

Cal started to tick points off on his fingers. "So, we've got no communications, every electrical device within let's say nine hundred miles, give or take, is down before and after a major light show in the sky, there is no electricity anywhere, and you're hearing strange radio frequencies with your hearing aid, what's that about?"

"Yea," Joe's turn to interject. "What about that? Saw the lights out the window. They were all rolling east in like straight lines. They were huge."

Gerald looked thoughtful. "Back in eighty-seven we were doing some testing with low and high frequency bands. Trying to break down the frequency we came across some very unique crystals we received from a testing facility out of Nevada. No one told us exactly where they were from, but one night I was in the shack about one in the morning tuning a radio and I saw this unusual deflection in one of the bands" Gerald took a sip of water clearing his throat. "So, What I found when I put the headset on were these signals that alternated different sets of low bandwidth tones. Sort of like your voice does when you talk, only the tones were quick and staccato, barely audible as if two or three people were having a conversation." He paused to see if Cal was following. "It was easy to tell because there was a lower tone that kept coming up and then the other higher tones would respond. Before I could pin down a frequency, they were gone. I logged the frequencies that I'd checked of course, but I don't remember what they are."

"So, what's your best assessment?" Cal asked taking the lead.

"Well," Gerald paused, "Up until tonight, I didn't think much of it. I haven't heard them since, but if I had to take a wild guess, I'd say they weren't from around here."

"If it is Aliens then those were probably forward scouts," Cal said nodding at Gerald. "What we saw tonight were probably invading forces."

"Hard to believe they would wait forty years, but…" Gerald just nodded his head solemnly. "I don't think it could be anything else."

"Well I know one thing." Sam said. "If it's true, our view of the Universe just got a reality check."

"First act of any good defense is to react with violence." Cal put in. "I don't know if American Forces have mounted a defense. They may still be trying to regroup." Cal sighed. This isn't going to end well for the civil population either. Food and shelter will be in short supply. We can expect gangs and whatever else is out there roaming the streets, civil unrest, maybe anarchy along with whatever is out there is hell bent on our extermination. It's going to be a nightmare. We're going to need to protect ourselves. Find weapons, food, medical supplies. The hospitals have probably been hit or if they haven't, they probably will be soon."

"Wait a minute!" A blonde haired gentleman Cal gauged to be about 35 stood up from the table across the room. He'd obviously been eaves dropping on their conversation. "Hold on a minute. You just went from aliens, which is pretty hard to believe, to outright anarchy in the matter of a few minutes. Are you out of your mind? We don't even know what's happening out there." He stood up looking around at all the new faces who had followed them in. "You can't expect me to believe this cockamamie crap about aliens and energy weapons nonsense."

Gerald let the anger surface in his voice. "The evidence speaks for'tself. Cars won't start, cell phones dead, strange radio frequency bursts," He pointed to his hearing aid. "Lights in the sky just before an explosion in the south east and alls dead and quiet out there now, cept for that awful smell. Nota single automobile runnin. An attack's what it is."

"Gerald," Tina put her hand on her husband's shirt intending to pull him down into his chair. He shook her off, but Calvin just patted his shoulder and he settled back down.

"Truthfully," Cal remained standing so everyone could see him looking at each face in turn, "I don't know. I know that a very persuasive two plus two make four, but for certain I can't say. Not until we-"

The door burst in and a man in a tattered shirt, brown jacket, and jeans slammed the door pressing against it to hold it closed. He was panicked. Sweat dripping off his flushed red face. "They're… They..." His breathing was ragged.

Cal jumped from his seat and rushed to the man's side. The man's sleeve was stained red and although his breathing was calming down, his breathes were coming out in rasps. "I…I.. saw them. They came down." He burped blood, coughing in spurts. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was so scared. It grabbed me."

Cal reached over opening his jacket to find the scarred and blackened left side of his chest oozing blood through the ragged remnants of his shirt. Cal replaced the jacket and shook his head at Gerald.

"It's ok son," Gerald spoke up, "You're with friends now. You're going to be ok. We're going to get you patched up."

"No. No." The man shook his head. His jowls shaking as the sweat dripped in rivulets down his face. "I'm dead. I know. I ran… into… something. I don't know. It was big. Green. So many legs. I couldn't get away…"

Sam spoke up. "He's going into shock. We need to get him settled and warm."

A young boy standing next to the blonde man who spoke up earlier tugged on his fathers shirt. "There's a blanket in the car dad, I can run and get it. I'm fast. They won't get me." He started running for the door.

Sam, Gerald, and Cal all shouted, "No!"

The boy turned around, his hand on the door handle.

"Don't go out there, young man." Cal said slowly moving toward him. "I know you're brave, but we don't know who or what's out there.

Hallie spoke up from behind the counter. "We have some blankets in the back room. I'll get them and be right back." She disappeared down the hall with the room marked private.

The blonde man who spoke up earlier corralled his son over to a corner booth and made him sit down. He came back and looked directly at Cal, "Names Paul," he offered his hand and Cal shook it.

"Cal," He nodded at the man still sitting on the floor next to the door. "We should move him to that bench. "

Paul nodded and helped him lift the injured man onto the Bench. The man gasped, coughing a little more blood up before his breathing settled into a rapidly deteriorating rasping rhythm.

"Joanne, you have any plastic serving gloves, tape and warm water with three clean cloths?" The waitress rushed off and returned with the items. Cal donned the gloves and pulled the tattered remnants of the shirt away from the wound. He started to walk them through the steps as he pulled a plastic Credit Card out of his wallet. "We're going to apply a field dressing."

The group watched as he described the process and wiped the blood away from the wound and dried the area. He taped the credit card on three sides and then slowly turned the man on the side closest to the wound with the opening of the card toward ground. Blood started to ooze out of the un-taped side of the credit card and the man started to breathe a little easier. They left the injured man on the bench, barricaded the door with tables and chairs and moved off to a table in the corner of the room.

"Where did you learn that?" Paul asked when he sat at the table with a cold drink in his hand.

"It's called wound training." Cal said taking a sip of cold water. "They teach it in the Navy on board ships for basic care prior to the medics arriving on scene. I'm sorry to say I don't know much beyond that, but that wound is probably beyond any medics help now. He needs a surgeon and a hospital."

"I agree," Gerald put in. "We can't afford to leave when we don't know who or what did that to him, or where they are."

"Do you think he'll be alright till morning?" A young woman with spiked pink hair and a brightly colored dress spoke up.

"I'm sorry. I don't think he's going to make it through the night." Cal shifted uncomfortably.

"So what do we do?" The same woman asked. "We have to get him to a hospital and I don't want to stay here."

Cal gave her his full attention. "If you go out there now, you could run into whatever he," Cal pointed at the man on the bench for emphasis, "ran into and then you won't have many options." He paused to see if anyone would argue. Spiked pink hair just glared. He knew what she was thinking. It was cruel to leave a man dying without getting him medical attention, but the evidence all pointed to an invasion and getting more people killed was not a risk he wanted to take. So he went on, "Or, we can ride this out till morning and we'll go up to the roof and see how things look. Right now, we should barricade ourselves in; keeping whatever it is that attacked him out." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement as Cal looked around at all the windows and doors. "Tomorrow, my daughter Sam and I are heading to Colorado. We've got to get home to my Wife and son. Right now though, we just need to sit tight till morning. It's not safe to try to go out till daytime. By that time, whatever's interrupting our engines may have dissipated and we can get some cars started."

Gerald grimaced. "I agree Cal. We're going to hafta shut the blinds, barricade the remaining doors and windows with tables, create a sleeping area. Some of us are might have to stand watches." Cal could hear the collective groan from the group.

A man in a white apron shuffled out of the kitchen and leaned over towards Cal. "Names Viccarrio, I'm cook."

"Never woulda guessed if the dress hadn't given ya away, Chef." .Joe snickered and his boy Buck joined in on the joke. Sam glared at the both of them and they straightened their faces. "Sorry." Joe whispered avoiding her stare.

Cal patted Sams leg and she lay her head on his shoulder. "Nice to meet you Viccarrio. Names Cal. This is my daughter Sam, Gerald and his wife Tina, and Paul." He paused, "Joe and Buck here are the comedians."

Viccarrio frowned at the two young men and then cast a warm smile at Cal. "Nice to meet you too. I move here from Italy. From small place. We have plenty of food for all. We might be here for while, eh?"

Cal nodded. "That might be true Vic. We need to move the tables toward the windows and close the blinds. Will you let us do that?" He smiled pantomiming moving the tables away from the center of the room.

Viccario nodded vigorously. "What ever you need, we do. You save that man. You know what to do. What ever you need. I go get more drinks. We all drink." He motioned to the several frightened faces that had come in behind Cal and the others. "All customers welcome. On the house. Take good care of all of you."

Hallie sidled up to Viccario and nudged him. "Don won't like this."

Viccario gave Hallie a blank stare. "Don not here. Don not going to be here. This not time to argue about what Don want. This time to help." His hands became as animated as his volume escalated.

"Whatever Vic, but if anyone's taking the fall for this it's you." Hallie retorted folding her arms across her chest.

Viccario patted her shoulder, "It be alright. Don understand. It good business sense. You'll see." He said and shuffled back into the kitchen.

Paul sidled up to Cal. "Cooperative guy. I think he's more frightened than we are."

"Not by much," Sam whispered as she glanced over at her father. Cal squeezed her arm reassuringly and she returned the gesture with a sidelong glance.


	2. Ch 2: The Escape

II

They stood on the roof of the diner watching the sun come up. Cal pulled Sam close wrapping his arm around her when the light waves burst over the horizon in retro blues and purples ascending into the sky. Joe and his friend Buck sat on the deck of the roof with their backs against the back of the wall holding up the diner sign. Paul stood transfixed by the sight. His young boy Collin and his wife Shelley stood huddled together as he hugged them close. Cal found some common ground with Paul as he and his family had been driving back to California from New York when they stopped into the diner for something to eat and the attacks came.

They looked at the buildings around them. Most of them single story buildings rolling back toward the Louisville skyline. The Louisville skyline made their jaws drop in horror. The city itself was a mass of chaos. Buildings destroyed and crumbling with exposed heavy steel beams and wiring hanging down. Some buildings had caved into their own foundations scorched by weapons and fires raged, the smoke rising in dark clouds where the fires took over multiple sections of buildings and rapidly gaining ground toward the north. On the south side there were small clusters of smoke tendrils ascending into the sky.

Cal looked around at the small diner and its geographical surroundings. It was situated on a piece of property secluded only by the parking lot wrapping around the dinner half filled with cars , trucks, a few motorcycles, and an RV. The streets moving running North and South, East and West bordered the North and East side of the building, but the South and West side ran off a gentle incline and over railroad tracks to the trees beyond. Cars, motorcycles, and trash littered the streets in all directions, but there was no sign of any life. It was almost as if the people had all disappeared.

"Cars, just died where they stopped. There doesn't seem to be any human life out there." Cal shook his head and squeezed Sams shoulder reassuringly.

"Dad," Sam looked up into her fathers face, "What do we do now?"

Cal looked to Paul and Shelley and Collin and then back to Sam. "We eat, we pray, and we take stock of our situation and try to find out what we're up against."

"We pray," Buck guffawed loudly. "What makes you think theres a God up there who even cares about whats happening?"

"I'm not getting into this with you Buck," Cal started, but Buck's quick to interject attitude caught him off guard.

"That's right, because there ain't no God. No entity up there cares anything boutus. If there was, it doesn't seem like he cares now." Bucks sly smile looked evil.

"And you know this because," Sam's ire was up, she stood toe to toe with Buck "It's not about what's really there Buck. People need something to hope for, strive for, believe in, or there is no hope and no reason to live." She took a deep breathe. "Don't take the one thing from people that might keep them fighting, might keep them striving, hoping, moving forward when they might otherwise lay down and die."

"Yea whatever," Buck said waving a hand in her face. "When that big guy in the sky comes down and saves us all, then I'll believe it."

"If you have to see to believe, I pity you Buck and I for one will pray for you." Shelley said, startling them all.

"So, what are we up against?" Paul asked trying to change the subject.

"Hey guys…" Joe waved them over to the east side of the building. "I don't think we'll have to wait long. Look! What the hell is that?" He pointed at a shiny silver bipedal object slowly making its approach toward the diner with three six legged what appeared to be half human, half bug skittering their way toward up the street littered with cars. They skittered over cars as the large metallic machine picked its way through the streets flipping car out of its way and moving in a methodical fashion as if searching for something.

"Those must be those things that guy was talking about. What are they doing?" Paul said sounding more frightened than he intended.

"Flushing out the prey." Cal whispered. Paul gave him an understanding look. "We should probably get down." Cal said guiding Sam down behind the wall of the roof and sparing glances over the edge. "They must be scouts or something. I can't imagine-" Looking out over the wall, he glimpsed the forms of a young woman in her early twenties and a child about the age of four hiding behind a car about fifty feet from the walking bipedal machine. He could tell from the look of indecision on the woman's face she wasn't sure if she should run or stay put.

"Oh crap, lady get out of there!" Joe crouched up over the wall waving to the woman. She noticed him and waved him down before looking back over her shoulder to get the bearing of the machine and its three escorts.

"Joe. Shut up and get down." Cal spoke in a low tone. "Get down before you get everyone killed."

Joe ignored the warning and continued to wave his arms. The quick disjointed movement caught the attention of one of the green six legged aliens and it came skittering toward him at what appeared to be impossible speed. The Machine it was escorting immediately targeted Joe centering a multi-beamed, multi-colored laser on his chest from a machine gun attachment on its right arm. On its left was clearly an arm attachment with three opposable fingers and one thumbed metallic hand like claw. Joe had enough time to look down to see the multi-colored beamed laser change from orange to blue before someone slammed into him carrying him to the deck. He struggled with the weight on his chest as a blast of heat and light flew over their heads and showering them with brick and concrete.

"Get down! Stay out of sight." Cal whispered harshly in Joes ear.

"Get off me man!" Joe cried. Cal held him firmly against the wall.

"You are going to get us all killed. Stay down and shut up!" Cals harsh admonishment brought Joe to his senses as he realized what had just happened.

"They shot at us man. They shot some energy at us. That's like Star Wars stuff, man. Straight up crazy." Joe scanned the faces full of fear around him and settled down. "I'm ok," He held up his hand to Cal, "I promise, I'll be straight, I'll be laid back, whatever you want."

With Joe calm, Cal got up the courage to peer over the edge of the wall. The alien creature rapidly moving toward them had stopped, changed direction, and pointing at the young woman and the child who had been hiding behind a car. They broke from their cover heading straight for the diner.

"No." Cal whispered watching the beam from the metal bipedal machine gun focus and with sudden finality released a volley of projectiles into the womans fleeing back. Cal observed the light disappear from her eyes and he heard the screams of pain before she came skidding to a halt face first on the asphalt.

"Mommy! Mommy!" The child stood in the middle of the street crying and tugging at the arm of the dead woman lying face down on the concrete. Cal and Sam watched in horror as the little boy looked around and then back at the body, tears streaming down his face, screaming, "Mommy! Wake up! MAAAWWMMEEEE!"

The green six legged alien snatched him up and carried him off to the west. The other two aliens scanned the roof of the building and the streets continuing to pick their way through the jungle of cars once more. Sam covered her face crying into her fathers shoulder as they ducked behind the edge of the roof wall. Paul held Shelley and Collin as close as he could and he whispered to Collin to stay quiet. Shelley cried silently into her husbands shoulder as her own shoulders quaked with the effort to stay quiet.

The metallic bipedal machine was getting closer making its way up the street pushing cars from its path and scanning the streets for movement. The skittery green alien creatures stopped in the middle of the street on the North side of the diner. The clicking sounds of their voices carrying on the eerie silence as they deliberated back and forth.

Cal moved to the north side of the building and watched the two skittering aliens through a hole where the deck of the roof meets the wall for rain runoff. One alien was pointing at the diner, while the other was clucking and pointing in the direction of the destroyed city skyline. Finally, they both stopped tittering to one another and the one pointing at the diner shrugged its bulbous shoulders before dropping its hand like limbs and gesturing to the city skyline.

Cal took that as a sign of surrender and moved out of the line of sight of the hole. He took a few deep breathes and could feel his heart thumping in his chest as he lay there for a few minutes gathering his wits. He made eye contact with Sam and started to crawl back towards her.

"Daddy, they killed that woman and took that little boy." She whispered when he got close enough to lean up against the wall next to her. Tears streamed down her face and she wiped them away. "What are those things?"

"I don't know. Fastest things I've ever seen." Cal replied, out of breath. "We're going to have to stay well clear of them or we won't have a chance."

The look of disbelief on Paul's face belied the terror on the faces of Shelley and Collin. Paul nodded in agreement with Cal. His heart thudding in his chest and the warm morning sun was beginning feel good against his otherwise exhausted body. He looked at Cal before he leaned up to see over the edge of the wall.

One of the green six legged aliens jumped up on the roof of a car searching as its companion bipedal machine walked the North side of the building tossing cars out of its way scanning the facades of buildings looking for any sign of movement. Paul's gaze stayed locked on the skittering thing searching the empty street. He supposed it was looking for stragglers, but the bulbous body and elongated six legs allowed for a speed of movement not expected to be had by a creature of that size. The small arms protruding from its upper body belied a unique human quality offset by the insect-like shape of its head.

The Skitter stared back at the diner containing at least fifty refugees from the attacks the night before. It appeared to be scanning the building, but Paul was skeptical that it could see or hear anything inside. The alien creature didn't move, but simply stood quietly upon its perch gazing at the building. Then the sound of something even more sinister began to reach their ears from somewhere in the distance.

The roar was a soft buzzing at first, but then rapidly became a rushing sound like standing next to a roaring river. The air ships darted over head searching and shooting in various vectors across the horizon.

"Holy Sh-!" Joes outburst alerted an alien who reacted to the sudden sound and movement as Joe and Buck bolted from behind the wall of the roof heading for the hatch leading down into the diner. Cal grabbed for Sam putting a finger to his lips and motioning for her to remain silent. Paul took the queue and held tight Shelley and Collin, covering their mouths with his hands and whispering in their ears to keep quiet.

The alien rapidly scaled the side of the building and Cal watched it launch itself at Joe and Bucks. When they reached the hatch, Joe turned back to see the two families still hunched up against the wall of the roof of the diner. Joe knew at that moment his mistake had cost him his life just as Buck came crashing into him launching him from his feet down the seven foot tall ladder and onto the tile floor of the diners kitchen. The alien rushed in after them.

Cal, Sam, Paul, Shelley, and Collin listened to the screams of the people inside the diner as they tried to flee the alien. They heard glass, wood and metal breaking as objects and people were thrown through tables barricading the windows and out into the parking lot. Cal clenched his teeth listening to the soft moans of pain and screams of agony erupting from those still alive on the sidewalks. Then the all too sickening sound of the screams stopping abruptly as more aliens and bipedal machines swarmed the area to finish off the survivors. Cal and the others stayed quiet knowing there was no way out. If they were found, they would die. If they were quiet, they had a slim chance to hold onto whatever thread of life they had. The aliens didn't bother returning to the roof. They moved and skittered around the cars dispatching survivors and then, all at once, the movement ceased.

Cal put a finger to his lips and almost dared himself to look over the wall, but instead erred on the side of caution and stayed put. His split decision saved him from the twelve skittering aliens and their metal bipedal companions suddenly moving toward the diner then past it as they trampled over cars and bodies heading east toward the city skyline.

The world around them became eerily quiet once again. No sounds uttered in the silence. Not birds, not people, not cars, not even the sound of machinery operating in the distance or electricity wires humming overhead. Cal made a motion for them to be quiet as he pulled himself part way up the wall and crawled over to the hatch opening leading down into the diner.

The scene inside was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. He motioned for the rest to stay hidden and climbed down the ladder. When he reached the bottom he made his way back through the kitchen. It was in complete disarray with pots, pans, dishes and glassware broken, smashed or strewn about halfway down the hallway to the dining room.

He reached over and pulled a long slicing blade out of a rack and moved silently stopping momentarily to take in the scene when he stumbled upon Buck lying motionless in the doorway, unmistakably dead. He listened before continuing down the hall for any sound, but only silence called back to him.

"Whatever I might find in here, help me deal with it." He whispered when he pushed against the door leading into the dining room. It opened partially and then stopped. Something was lodged against it from the other side and so he pulled the other door inward and exited the kitchen. He found Gerald lying against it with his wife in his arms blocking the door. "Oh man, Gerald, no." he whispered rubbing his forehead and steeling himself for what he might find when he turned around. The candles had long gone out that had been placed around the room. Sun beams lit through the breaks in the now broken or missing blinds and barricades that had been erected to keep out the Aliens, but instead had become the walls of a tomb. Cal moved through the thirty or so bodies that lay unmoving on the floor, knowing there were quite a few more outside. People he never got the opportunity to meet or talk to, but counted on him to keep them safe. In the end, it wasn't Joe's and Bucks irresponsibility that got them killed. It was his inability to control the situation. It ended up being his inability to adequately foresee the danger and in the end, allowed one small action by a foolish kid to end in the mindless slaughter of fifty some people.

Cal dropped to his knees as the tears fell from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He rubbed his eyes and cheeks, clenching and unclenching his fists. His frustration wanted to scream out to the world, but his mind warned against it.

The alien moved slowly and stealthily. The human was kneeling there with his back against him. There was no escape.

Cal heard it, that scraping sound. There it was again. Slight, but evident. It was coming from behind and someone or something attempting to mask their movements and move very quietly. A broken mop handle lay a foot away and he over exaggerated his crying leaning toward it wrapping his fingers around the shaft. The stealthy footsteps stopped and then with unimaginable speed Cal saw the blur out of the corner of his eye as he fell forward turning and bracing the mop handle against the tile floor jutting up into the air like a spear.

The alien moved so fast that its weight continued to carry it forward even when it tried to alter course seeking purchase across the slippery tile floor upon seeing its error. It jittered wildly screeching as the broken end of the mop impaled it through its abdomen and continued through its back. Cal didn't waste any time bringing up the kitchen knife.

"Aaaaagggggghhhh!" He screamed releasing all of his pent up anger, rage and hatred as the green six legged alien futilely attempted to pull the broken mop handle from its writhing body screeching in pain. Cal went to work sawing off the head at the base of the neck with the knife.

"Daddy." Sam called dropping into the kitchen rushing for the door of dining room. Sam looked out at the massacre, blood and chaos and ran back into the kitchen vomiting into the sink. Unsure if she could handle the scene, but certain she needed to find out what happened to her father, she forced herself to move back into the dining room.

"Aagh!" Cal stood over the body stabbing it again and again with the blade until at last the handle was buried somewhere in the bloody mass. Instead of retrieving it, he reached for the broken mop handle and pulled it out. The body gushed more blood as the eyes of the bodiless head opened and closed and the odd shaped mouth still attempted to move as if breathing in actual air.

"Daddy!" Sam half screamed, half whispered. "Daddy." She moved through the bodies on the floor and launched herself into his arms. "Daddy, daddy, daddy," she said over and over pressing her face into his neck. "You're alive. My God… You're alive." Her breathless words turned into a mantra she held onto. You're alive. Oh God, Oh God…" She framed his dirty face in her hands and smiled. "I'm so glad you're alive."

"Me too," Cal said arms wrapped around his daughter, weapon forgotten on the floor. He looked up just in time to see Paul and his family standing helplessly in the middle of the dining room, their faces pale and weak as they took in the scene around them.

"You killed it." Paul said pointing at the beheaded six legged alien creature lying in a rapidly growing pool of blackened blood at Cal's knees. "It's dead. Right?"

"I think so," Cal nodded, "I don't know if it has friends. We should probably-" A shuddering thud on the roof and then the sound of many feet running across it echoed inside the diner.

"I shut the hatch." Paul said, "I didn't know what to do."

"Ok, we might have time. Follow me." Cal nodded toward the kitchen grabbing He led them back around the dining room with mop handle in hand and into the kitchen breathing a sigh of relief when he found what he was looking for.

The steel door of the walk in refrigerator opened easily enough. It was still cool inside, but thankfully tolerable. Most importantly there was plenty of room for all of them. He ushered them all inside and just as he shut the door to the refrigerator with a click, the closed door to the hatch leading to the roof caved in spilling aliens into the kitchen. Cal, Sam, Paul, Shelley, and Collin hunkered in the back of the refrigerator on top of a box of beef and waited.

The sounds of feet moving outside were muffled against the insulation, but there was a small indentation in the seal where the sound echoed slightly into the refrigerator. Like listening to sounds through a tube as they echoed off the walls they made out the faint sounds of jittering and the scuffle of feet through the kitchen over the broken crockery.

Then all at once the jittering became screeches and the sound of objects being thrown up against the walls in the dining area. Then the sound of rapidly scuffling feet the aliens made as they bolted back into the kitchen and up the wall escaping through the open hatch from which they'd come.

Cal and Sam listened to their muffled footsteps as they rushed off the roof of the diner and disappeared somewhere in the distance.

"You think it's safe to come out?" Sam asked putting her hand against the metal door of the refrigerator. "They didn't sound very happy."

"I hope seeing one of their own dead and beheaded scared the living hell out of them." Cal replied. The flecks of blood and gore still speckled his face and drenched his clothing. "I would think that they might leave us alone for-"

"What? Dad. What's the matter?" Sam saw the sudden look of intensity on her fathers face.

"We need to leave." Cal said pushing the door open. "We need to go. Now!"

Paul grabbed Shelley and Collin and followed Cal out to the dining room. Cal and Paul heaved the blinds out of the way and broke the last jagged pieces of window from the pane. Cal was the last to exit the building. He searched the east and west before finally motioning to the others to follow him west. They ran mostly fuelled by adrenaline, Paul carrying his son, while Shelley lagged somewhat behind. They moved through trees and out into the forested sections of the hills away from the main highway. Every now and again they would hunker down behind the trees as the green six legged aliens passed with their Mechanical bipedal companions. Staying careful to keep quiet and not move until the patrols had gone far beyond sight or hearing.

By dawn, they were exhausted, but a small farmhouse offered some small relief as they plodded upto the front porch and lay down under the awning.

"Who goes there!" Came the gruff voice from somewhere inside.

Sam flopped onto her back with her feet squarely on the ground. "I'm too tired to argue with some nutcase with a gun, I'm just going to lay right here and die if you don't mind."

"Sam." The warning tone from her dad was lessened by the exhaustion he felt. "Let's try and be nice. You might catch more bees if you use honey than if you use lemon juice. You ever hear that saying?"

"Only…" She took two deep breaths, "everytime. you. Aw hell." She blustered, "all the time."

Cal laughed in spite of his exhaustion. "Ho there!" he called through the door. "We're just passing through and wondered if you had any water. Maybe some food?"

"No! Go Away!" came the gruff response from inside.

"Oh, Brett! Be nice, they seem like ok folks. Not churched much, but right ok 'nough." A small woman with glasses and a house robe unlatched the door and opened it. "Oh my, Don't you all look so…" She gauged the look of their clothing and dark stains on Cals. "…tired. I'm Barb, and this is my husband Brett." She shuffled the door open and smiled when Paul and Shelley drew Collin close as they walked through the door. "Come in, come in. Take a load off."

"Thank you Ma'am." Cal said gesturing to Sam. "Come on kiddo, let's go inside."

Sam flopped her hands on the deck and lifted her upper body up off the steps trudging across the threshold until she leaned into her dads shoulder. "I don't know, dad. Are you sure about this?" she whispered, "Something about this doesn't feel right."

"Come on," Cal said wrapping his arm around her and heading inside. "It'll be alright.

Barb and Brett were a nice enough couple. They had retired to western Kentucky just after the Twin towers were attacked in New York. Brett was an iron worker and an active member of the Local 70. He worked in the iron and steel industry for over forty-three years. Cal could sense that there was more to it. There was an awful quietness about them.

Barb moved through the kitchen humming to herself drawing up the fixings for a chicken pot pie. She had a freezer stocked full of frozen meats and vegetables, but for the time being Cal, Paul, Sam, Shelley, and Collin sat at the kitchen table warming themselves around some hot mugs of homemade apple cider. Every now and again Brett, a tall thin man with large hands and a broad mustache wearing overalls and old steel toe boots walked into the kitchen.

"Dangerous critters you say?" Brett asked in his southern drawl. "We're pretty secluded way out here. No aliens, or monsters, or critters with ten or twenty legs. We've got our protection and that's all that matters."

"Honey?" Barb gestured to Brett, "Would you be a dear and grab me that paprika from the cupboard?"

Brett grabbed the glass jar full of orange and white powder from the top shelf and put it in Barbs hands. "Thank you sweetie."

"Dad, I am so tired." Sam said yawning. "Ms. Barb, that cider really hit the spot." She rubbed her belly. "Do you think there's a place I can lay down for a while?"

Barb smiled and pointed down the hallway. "There's a room just down there dear, right past the bathroom, second door on your right."

Cal smiled to his daughter as she passed. "I'll be here when you wake up, sweetie."

Sam laughed half heartedly. "You better."

Cal gave Paul a meaningful look. Paul smiled and lifted his glass of cider then let it slip from his fingers falling to the floor, the mug breaking into a thousand pieces.

"Oh shoot." Paul cried.

"Oh Paul." Shelley looked down and shook her head, Collin asleep on her lap.

Barb turned and stared at the mess on the floor and then as if on cue she spoke up, "Oh my goodness. I'll get you a mop."

"I'm so sorry. Just so darn clumsy. Must be more tired than I thought." Paul reached up on the sink and grabbed the long knife from the counter with one swift fluid motion and Barb with the other putting the blade to her neck.

"Oh my God, Paul what are you doing?" Shelley cried. Collin woke up on her lap and started crying.

Brett entered the room with a shotgun and Cal grabbed the pot of hot cider off the stove splashing it in his face. He stumbled back, dropping the shotgun and pawing at his face in agony. Cal swept up the shotgun and put the muzzle directly in Bretts face.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!" The only sound was the shotgun ratcheting forward chambering a round and dropping a round out of the ejection port into Sam's waiting hand. "Now, Shelley, would you please quiet down Collin and listen."

Shelley was now standing against the back wall of the kitchen holding Collin tightly to her chest. He started to quiet down as she shushed him listening intently to Cal. "What's happening. Paul? Whats... happ-"

"Shell, just take it easy and keep Collin quiet." Paul said pressing the knife against Barbs neck.

"So," Cal began. The muzzle of the shotgun waivered, but held steady. "How long have you been abducting people, strangers, just passing through?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, young man." She said, with a sweet smile on her face. "I think it's time for you folks to leave. This isn't how you repay someone's hospitality."

"Don't you lie to me." Cal growled. "Don't you dare. How many?"

"Don't even think about it, thin man." Sam said as she came around the corner poking an old black Colt .45 revolver into Bretts back. He jerked slightly and Sam pulled the trigger putting a bullet into the meat of the back of his left leg. Brett went down on one knee and felt the muzzle of the revolver push into the back of his skull.

Barb screamed out an expletive and every other awful name she could think of. "How could you do that to my husband? I swear to the Lord I will kill you where you stand. Then I will eat the flesh off your bones!"

"That's what I figured," Cal said standing a little easier, but backing off just out of Bretts reach. Paul didn't loosen his hold on Barb, but the disgusted look on his face told the whole story.

"I'm starting to think I might be too spicy for the likes of you," Sam said mimicking the slow southern Kentucky drawl of the short woman with her glasses and house robe.

"Sam," Cal said quietly, "you're not helping."

"Sorry dad," Sam replied a sheepish admonished expression spreading across her face.

Cal realized his admonishing his daughter would distract her, make her doubt herself and not react when he needed her to. "No worries, it's ok."

"I thought it was funny," Paul said realizing Cal's intent to boost her confidence. Barb started to chuckle sarcastically, "Not that funny," Paul said pressing the knife a little tighter and drawing a little blood.

Barb reacted with a pained expression.

"I'm not going to ask for details anymore." Cal said quietly maintaining eye contact with Barb. "After all the death and the burned homes we've seen, I honestly don't care. We're going to get some food, some water, and then we're going to leave. You'll never see us again."

"You really think you're going to be ok out there, Yank?! You think there's going to be some safe haven out there waiting for you?" Barb started to cackle raging against Paul still holding her tightly. "You outsiders are all the same. You come in and you expect good southern hospitality and then you take and give nothing back. I hope those spidders take you. Them and their metal machines."

"Sam," Cal said looking at his daughter. "See if you can't find some rope and some blankets will ya? I have these two covered."

Sam disappeared into the living room followed closely by Shelley who stepped outside onto the front porch. In a few moments Sam returned with the blankets and the rope. Cal asked her to take the rope and blankets outside. He'd be there in a moment. Sam stepped out the door. The sound of a shotgun rang out. Shelley jumped, holding Collin in her arms jerking awake and beginning to cry again. She heard Barb screaming inside and then suddenly the shotgun rang out again and her screams were silenced.

Paul came walking out with flecks of blood on his clothing and sat down next to Shelley and Collin. He went to wrap his arms around her and she shied away. "Shell.."

"Why?" She asked with tears welling up in her eyes. "Why?"

Paul sighed. "Cal was right. I know it hurt him to do it, but he was right to do it, Shell. For all those people who would come this way and hope for someplace safe, but find those monsters instead." Paul reached over and she let him pull her into an embrace as he ruffled his sleeping son's hair. "And for all those people that did come this way. I love you, but there are going to be a lot of hard decisions yet to be made."

Cal came out shouldering the shotgun and sat down next to Sam on the porch steps. "We'll have to stay away from the meat, but I think the fruit, veggies, and the eggs and some of the canned food with labels are probably ok."

"I saw some backpacks in the other rooms when I was snooping around, some with clothes. The water still works too, which is odd. I think they have a generator and well water." She said leaning into her dad's shoulder.

"I'll find the generator. We should probably try to save as much gas as possible in case we need it." Cal said using the butt of the shotgun to push himself to his feet.

"Not before you get a bath." Shelley said with a giggle. "You and Paul are both ripe." She put emphasis on the last syllable.

Sam held up a finger "I testify." She said laughing. "And a bath would be nice, but I'm sure not sleeping in that creepy house." Sam put the blankets and rope aside and headed back into the house.

Paul got up. "We better bury those two and clean the floor." He said softly, "In a couple hours the sun will be down and we'll need to find a place to sleep.

Cal pointed over at the barn across the driveway. "We'll bed down in that barn over there for the night and tomorrow we'll see what else we can find."

Shelley sat on the porch rocking chair with Collin in her arms. The sun had reached over the horizon and she watched the beams of warm light slowly creep up the white posts on the end of the awning and the tears flowed down her cheeks. She could feel the warmth on her legs and the morning breeze. There were birds, none of the songs of which they sang she could recognize. The world around her was alive, but everything in her life felt like death.

"I'm sorry for chastising you back there, Sam." Cal said as he walked out of the barn to see the sunrise. He could smell the eggs and mushrooms cooking over an open fire in a cast iron skillet. "I need to trust you, and I need trust that I know you'll do what you think is right, no matter what I think."

"Awwe dad, You're growing up." She said leaning into him and giggling.

"Ohh just remember young lady, I'm still your dad and I'm older than you, so take it easy on me, I'm old." He held her close giving her a reassuring squeeze.

She mimicked her dad's low tone, "They grow up so fast. Don't they little tasty baby chicks." She said bending over cooing to the eggs sizzling in the pan.

Paul came out and smiled stretching. "Best night's sleep I've gotten in a while."

"Me too," Cal said smiling. "And the bath felt good too."

"You're telling me partner." Paul tossed a grin at Sam as she kneeled over the fire with the skillet. He noticed she'd gotten some plates from the kitchen of the house as well and relished the idea of digging into some eggs.

"Dishin it up!" Sam yelled as she turned around putting the contents of the skillet on each plate along with slices of apples and peaches dipped in honey.

Sam, Paul, and Cal sat comfortably on the front porch just a few feet from Shelley who was sharing her food with Collin.

"Where'd you get the honey?" Paul asked digging into the eggs.

"It was in the kitchen in one of the cupboards. I found some flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and about three bottles of olive oil. You don't even want to know what I found in the basement."

"What?" Cal asked, a look of seriousness crossing his face.

Pauls intent expression unnerved Sam, but she gulped down a mouthful of food. "There's a lot of junk down there. Mostly old World War II stuff. You know? Not from our side though. A lot of stuff with swastikas and these black crosses with white highlights. It was just… weird."

Cal considered his daughters words. "Any weapons? Ammunition?"

"Boxes," she said chewing on a peach. "They have machine guns and rifles. Two cabinets full. Some of the other stuff was just strange. I think I found like six boxes full of this one book 'Mein Kampf' "

"Written by Adolf Hitler." Shelley chimed in. "It was supposed to be his great literary achievement. As it turned out, he was actually a fairly brilliant man, if not a little insane."

"Oooookaaay." Sam said curiously raising her eyebrows.

"I studied many of the famous Commanders in College. It was part of a social economics course and we had this German professor who was absolutely adamant that Hitler was misunderstood." Shelley went on.

"So.. Was Hitler misunderstood?" Cal asked with a wry grin.

"No," Shelley replied, "I think that he was like any other introverted young man who ended up getting drunk off power and finding himself swept up in a flood of social-political viewpoints that only served to bolster the egos of his sycophantic nutjob political affiliations."

"So…" Sam paused thinking about how to formulate a response. "He was nuts."

"Pretty much." Shelley said smiling.

The easy laughter broke out across the open driveway and down the hill to the grassy field that ran down to the main road. Three six legged alien creatures watched the five people talking on the porch and jittered in their own language before making their way down the hill to the four Mechs waiting below.


End file.
